“Birobidzhan”
Review
Review of The Dream of Social Justice and Bad Moral Luck: Eight Jewish Lives Under Stalin by Alice Nakhimovsky
Alexandra Polyan
“Justice” – with all its transformations and many faces – is a key notion for understanding Soviet history. It was social justice that the Bolshevik Revolution was after. It was “the dream of social justice” that attracted so many people, including numerous Jews, to join the revolution or to immigrate to Soviet Russia. And the stronger the belief in social justice the new order brought, the stronger was the shock caused by the injustice of the selective enforcement of Soviet laws.
Apr 01, 2025
Blog
Before Birobidzhan
Yevgeniy Fiks
Yevgeniy Fiks visits Birobidzhan, and refuses nostalgia and mourning on his return.
May 07, 2018
Blog
Diocese of Birobidzhan
Yevgeniy Fiks
Yevgeniy Fiks looks at Birobidzhan's (Christian) present.
May 07, 2018
Review
“The Worst Good Idea Ever”? The Birobidzhan Project and Soviet Jewish Culture
Natalie Belsky
Masha Gessen's new book explores the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan through the story of David Bergelson and Simon Dubnow, whose thought and writing influenced its development.
Jun 26, 2017
Interview
Dreams and Technicalities: Birobidzhan Reimagined in Song
Saul Noam Zaritt
Listen to a contemporary rethinking of Birobidzhan, the longed-for but mostly imaginary Jewish territorial project.
Oct 18, 2015